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Leap Year Lesson #211: Keep the End in View

Over six months ago, we started some major home renovations. The first couple of months saw the kitchen completely gutted, the wall removed between the kitchen and dining room, and everything new from the ground up, opening up a significant part of the main floor of the house with the change.

Then after a little break, the same company took what were two old, ugly, cheaply done upstairs bedrooms and attic space our sons used when they were young, and again removed everything – ceiling, walls, flooring – and built from the ground up a nice new master bedroom suite with a great bath, two walk-in closets and storage areas using a floor plan we have had in mind for a decade.

Today the final inspection happened, the last check was written, and all is done but furnishing it. Nearly seven months after it all began, we won’t have workers strolling in and out of our house randomly most days of the week. We can take all the furniture and storage items that have cluttered other rooms on the other floors and, after tossing what we can, put things where they belong. It is an understatement to say that it feels good to finally have that work done.

Could we have lived without the renovations? Yes. Was it costly? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. We now have a kitchen/dining area that not only is loved by my wife the caterer, but one the neighbors are asking to come see as the word spreads. One neighbor has already started a similar renovation after seeing ours, claiming we inspired her.

We didn’t do it for the neighbors, of course, or to impress others. We did it for ourselves and just in case we decide to sell the house down the road.

As I ponder the time, effort and cost involved, I am reminded of what brings satisfaction at work and in other places. There is great pleasure in reaching the end of something into which you have put great effort, especially when it turns out really well.

You have to look past the inconvenience and frustrations of the moment and remember leap year lesson #211 – Keep the end in view.